Dollinger wins main event at Stax

Evan Dollinger, of Coral Springs, won the main event of the WPT Regional Summer Heat Series at the Stax Poker Lounge at Seminole Casino Coconut Creek.

He earned $90,501.

The $440 buy-in event drew 944 entries.

Dollinger, 27, has been playing full-time since 2007, knocked out the fifth, sixth and 11th-place finisher, and almost had the No. 3 player with his KK vs. A-4 preflop. But he turned an ace to stay alive.

He said he started to lose the heads-up battle, but was lucky and got JJ vs TT all-in preflop to double up.

The final hand, I won with 66 vs 57 on a 5 6 J T board and my opponent check-raised all-in on the turn.

He says he ran to his wife, Rebecca, to celebrate, and credits her for bringing him "food, water, and whatever else I needed for almost two full days so that I could focus on playing poker."

"I don't know if I could have done it without her," he said. Sounds like a keeper...